Tuesday, February 14, 2006

oh great

Nextel Cup officials said Tuesday that spotters in "zones'' in the turns on the 2.5-mile Daytona track will feed information to NASCAR, which will then determine whether to penalize cars in Sunday's season-opening race.

let me outline this for you and explain why this makes things worse. NASCAR has just announced that they are going to now open the door for them to make MORE "judgement" calls where driver conduct is concerned.

still not getting it? remember those horseshit black flags that they threw at Carl Edwards in the shootout because he avoided a wreck and didn't blow thru pit lane at 100 MPH?? yeah, NASCAR has just announced they're about to let the braintrust in the judge's box make more calls like that. great.

I wish he hadn't said anything too!!!I agree with what Dale Jr said, "It's a necessary evil is what it is. You can't restrictor plate race without doing it. You have to do it or we'd be racing single file and nobody will come to watch that"

Bump drafting is only an issue when it comes to drivers such as Jimmie Johnson who don't know how to do it, but do it anyways! The drafting calls for an interesting race and with out it it would be boring!

How many of us think that NASCAR's just been waiting for the opportunity to "police" bump-drafting, but they knew fans would howl unless someone with Stewart's clout appeared to be behind it? Like Shea said, bump-drafting done *correctly* is the only way to get around a RP track. It's only when certain bozos try to do it in corners (um...hello?) that it becomes a problem.

This reminds me of the whole racing-back-to-the-caution thing - where something that had been done for years only became a problem because of a handful of younger drivers who thought they were above common sense and courtesy. And, just like with that, now we're going to be stuck with rules and penalties enforced by people who haven't exactly demonstrated the ability to be consistent and impartial. Thanks, fellas.

Listening to Clair B lang on XM on the way home, John Darby and Robin Pemberton were interviewed. I learned 3 things.

1)The whole racing-back-to-the-caution thing - where something that had been done for years only became a problem because of a handful of younger drivers who thought they were above common sense and courtesy & a Gentlemens agreement. Thus now we have the Lucky Dog!

*Key phrase here *: a handful of younger drivers who thought they were above common sense and courtesy & a Gentlemen's agreement.

2) Jimmie Johnson and the 48 Crew AND CHAD KNAUS BLATENLY CHEATED. IT WAS PLAIN AS DAY. JOHN DARBY WILL TELL YOU THAT....STRAIGHT UP!

3) Bump drafting is only an issue when it comes to drivers such as Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman and Little Busch Turd who don't know how to do it CORRECTLY, but do it anyways in the TURNS! And honestly...that came from JOHN DARBYS mouth again. He was pretty adament that this wasn't about Junior...but about those who are stupid enough to slam draft in the TURNS!

Claire B Lang made interesting points today. ALL of which I listed above. But it was shocking to hear John Darby speak up about what's happened and how Nascar plans to correct it. He was open and honest. And point blank...HMS is a bunch of cheating bastards....I'll never look at them any other way. Now instead of Nascar PICKING CARS randomly to inspect. They will now inspect EVERYBODY.....

While I think NASCAR should inspect each car impartially and not just pick and choose...they're getting closer and closer to doing away with any engineering wiggle room. One of the things non-fans have the hardest time understanding about stock car racing is the appeal of of watching cars that ARE NOT the best that they can be. That is to say, cars that are deliberately held back, technologically speaking. It's getting harder and harder to explain to non-fans why watching race cars with technology from the stone age, who are severly limited in their experimentation, is worth it. Yo, Darby, there's a reason I don't follow IROC.

As it stands, NASCAR's basically inviting teams with outsized resourses to find ways around the rules. Either they go all the way to handing teams every template-ed part (bo-ring) or they ease up some on the template rules. As it is, NASCAR's stifling innovation and only the teams with clout (HMS, Roush) can appeal their way out of it. Equally bo-ring. They need to decide which they want to do.